COVID-19: Health experts advise WHO to identify animal source of virus

The United Nations on May 1 said that international experts have advised the World Health Organisation (WHO) to identify the animal origins of the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic and its human transmission. The recommendations were reportedly made during the latest meeting of the 15-member Emergency Committee that consists of independent, international experts, representing all regions and the full range of relevant expertise. 

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"We accept the committee’s advice that WHO works to identify the animal source of the virus through international scientific and collaborative missions, in collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations", WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during his regular virtual press conference from Geneva.

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The committee outlined over 20 recommendations for the WHO, including coordination, planning, and monitoring of the disease, surveillance, risk communication, and community engagement, among others. The committee advised WHO to address research gaps such as, routes of transmission, including the role of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infection droplet, contact, viral shedding, and animal source, and intermediate hosts, in collaboration with partners. 

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Emergency Committee meeting

The WHO chief had convened the Emergency Committee on April 30, three months after its last meeting where the expanding COVID-19 outbreak was declared an international public health emergency. The Emergency Committee will reconvene within 90 days. The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. According to data by worldometer, more than 3.40 million people have been infected by the disease so far, of which over 2,39,000 have lost their lives. 

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(Image Credit: AP)